Shielded board connectors are known in the art. In connectors comprising plural signal terminals, shields are used to isolate signal terminals from each other and/or reduce cross talk between nearby signal terminals. Some connectors comprise isolation of pairs of terminals forming differential signal pairs. The shields are preferably conductive and connected to a reference voltage or ground.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,899,566 discloses an electrical board connector assembly having a header connector and a receptacle connector matable with one another. An array of signal contacts are secured to the header connector and arranged as differential contact pairs. An array of L-shaped ground shields are secured to the header connector. Each ground shield is arranged to partially surround and isolate a corresponding differential contact pair from adjacent differential contact pairs. The L-shaped ground shields and contact spacing cooperate to electromagnetically couple signal contacts in a differential contact pair more closely to one another than to signal contacts in adjacent differential contact pairs.
Such an electrical connector assembly has different shielding geometries within the header connector and between the header connector and the receptacle connector, which adversely affects impedance and signal integrity.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,340 discloses a board connector comprising a body of electrically insulating material having contact holes each provided with an electrically conductive contact element and arranged in at least two columns and at least two rows. Shielding elements of electrically conductive plate material being disposed in the body are provided. Each shielding element is shaped and arranged so that neighbouring contact elements are always entirely shielded from each other by parts of the shielding elements. The shielding elements are square wave shaped and are each arranged within one column in such a way that an open portion of each of the square wave shaped shielding elements is not adjacent to an open portion of a neighbouring square wave shaped shielding element.
This connector is designed for coaxial signal lines. Also this connector provides different shielding geometries within the connector. Further, the layout of the connection terminals (the “footprint”) on both sides of the connector is different, which may complicate accurate impedance matching of signals.
In view of the continuous drive to higher signal frequencies and smaller devices, improved shielded board connectors are desired without increasing the complexity of the connector design.